


Acheron and Lethe

by Script_the_Skeleton



Series: Hyrules Across the Ages [6]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Comedy, more tags for individual chapters inside, roleplaying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Script_the_Skeleton/pseuds/Script_the_Skeleton
Summary: Nine heroes that are guided by an unseen hand go on to prove that destiny is not set in stone. There may be a story to tell, but they have the power to write it themselves.Join them on their adventures: dungeon crawling, exploring the oceans, traversing worlds, and fighting in wars. Along the way, they will discover secrets about the past and the future and try to figure out just what their enemy is planning.-This is a fic version of a dnd campaign for LinkedUniverse that I DM. Each player is a Link (full list of credits inside) and they write the story as much as I do with how much they bring to the table and how bad their rolls get.
Series: Hyrules Across the Ages [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1308371
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	Acheron and Lethe

**Author's Note:**

> If any of this isn’t in character, it isn’t technically my fault :p.
> 
> Also, in certain parts of the story it will get suddenly darker. When that happens I will warn of any triggers in the notes before the chapter.

It was an average day for the Heroes of Hyrule, Hylia, Courage, what have you. They had long since stopped wondering in hope of transport to other times and had started to expect portals to appear in their wake. That’s the situation that they were in now. Walking out of a new portal to an even newer land and splitting up to find someone, anyone, who could help them. 

Luckily, the nine heroes were dropped off fairly close by to a castle. They could make out the tops of spires from their place in some foreign woods and Warriors and Sky went ahead to investigate. They came back, thankfully, with some good news. 

“The Princess has agreed to meet with us!” Warriors declared to the group, “she said she’d be happy to help anyway she can, in exchange that we help her fix the issues of dark magic attacking recently.”

“That was fast,” Time remarked, “how did you pull that off?”

Warriors winked, “clearly my charm is all we need-“

“She’s engaged,” Sky interrupted, “nothing about your charm helped.”

He rolled his eyes, “fine, the Princess recognized the Hero of the Skies here. She doesn’t know anyone else’s titles, so we are pretty early in Hyrule’s history.”

“When’s the meeting?” Time asked. 

“Anytime we can meet her, she’s relinquished the day to us. We best get going.”

“Let’s go!” Wind jumped excitedly. 

A short while later, the heroes entered the not yet glorious Castletown. It was not small by any means, definitely bigger than anything in Wild’s time, but it was not on the same scale as most Castletowns. Construction was everywhere, giving evidence that even they knew their capital was tiny and needed to be bigger. The castle itself was only half done, a whole section had a missing roof. 

“Very early in time,” Four noted, looking around, “the castle isn’t even completed yet.”

They walked into the castle, only two guards giving them a passing glance as they passed. The Princess must’ve told them that they were coming. The inside gave the illusion of what they planned to do with the building. There were places for paintings, carpets, and furniture, but, like the outside, it was sadly lacking. The throne room was at least somewhat presentable, with a single red carpet that rolled up to the feet of a decorated chair that acted as a throne. 

Wild was particularly enthralled by the new surroundings, taking pictures of everything with his Sheikah Slate. He mumbled words about how his Zelda would love seeing the original Hyrule Castle being built. 

Standing in front of the throne was the Princess herself. Like the rest of her line, she had bright golden hair and vivid blue eyes. She wore a sky blue dress that split at the waist to reveal a white ruffled underskirt and a simple tiara that laid on top of her braided hair. She looked around 17 or 18, barely just an adult by most of their standards. 

“Hello!” She smiled at them and curtsied, “my name is Princess Zelda the First, it is wonderful to meet you.”

Out of respect, every single of one of the heroes bowed. Hyrule was thankful that the bow hid his confused expression. The First? That title was supposed to belong to one of his Princesses. 

The Princess stuttered, “oh-no, you don’t have to be bowing to me. You’re here to help me after all, I should be bowing to you.”

They all stood up.

“So, your Highness,” Four began, “where are your parents, the King and Queen?”

She shook her head, “my parents have long been dead, but, even then, there has been no other royalty besides me. My title is Princess Zelda the First, not because I am the first Zelda, that honor goes to her Grace…”

She glanced at Sky for a brief second. 

“…but because I am the first Princess of Hyrule. My parents were simply my parents, there has never been a King or Queen of Hyrule just yet.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” Four quieted down. 

Hyrule breathed easy, that was a much simpler explanation than the crazy ideas that were flying through his head. 

“Wait, the first Princess,” Wild connected the dots, “does that mean you’re related to Sky?”

She beamed, “yes, he’s my great-grandfather!”

“What?!” Sky choked on air. It had long been known to him that his relationship with Zelda went on to found the the royal bloodline, but a grandchild, even a great-grandchild, was the closest of a descendant he had met so far. 

“I met you a couple of times,” the Princess recalled her memories, “it was when I was really little. You even gave me my pet cat.”

Her expression turned sour. “You died when I was six, but I am happy that I get to meet you again.”

“Well-I-uh.” How does one respond to that? “I can’t wait to meet you?”

Note to self, he thought, get a cat? What even are those? Are they like remlits? Zelda was never going to believe him…or maybe she would, being the goddess in charge of time and all that. 

While Sky had a tiny existential crisis, the Princess began to speak again. 

“So,” she started fiddling with a strand of her hair, “to business, Warriors and the Hero of the Skies says you can help investigate the dark forces that have been attacking Hyrule?”

Why does he get his full title, Warriors pouted internally. Just because he’s apparently her grandfather, doesn’t mean he can’t get the same level of respect. 

“Yes,” he said out loud, “we just need to know where you think they are coming from, and if you have any advice for how to best protect the kingdom.”

“We’re lucky that the Temple of Time has been protecting the town,” she spoke, “but other settlements haven’t been as lucky. I have no idea where these monsters are coming from, they just need to be stopped.”

Time’s eye widened slightly, “did you say the Temple of Time?”

She nodded, “its magic has not allowed any creature of darkness entrance into Castletown.”

“It does not do that in my time,” he whispered. 

“It doesn’t in mine, either,” Wild added, thinking about the destroyed ruins that he woke up to. 

Sky thought aloud, “there’s a temple in my time that acted like a barrier, perhaps they are acting similarly. Would it be possible for us to enter the temple and investigate? It could be useful to both your problems and ours.”

The Princess frowned, “I’m sorry, only sages are allowed in there. As it stands, I cannot allow entrance to anyone, unless…”

Out of nowhere, the Princess tilted her head to her side, almost as if she was listening to someone, yet no one was talking. She looked crazy to anyone other than a certain few in the room. Four, Wind, and Twilight watched as a Minish dropped from the ceiling to perfectly perch on her and whisper in her ear. It was too quiet, so not even Four could understand what it was saying. The Princess’ eyes furrowed in confusion before they had burst in a glimmer of hope. 

“That would work,” she grinned and straightened up again, “there’s a chest somewhere that seals away darkness, would that help with these monsters and the dark magic that have been appearing?”

“Can’t hurt to try,” Hyrule said first. 

“Then once the darkness is sealed away,” she continued, “we would have to place it somewhere safe, like in the Temple of Time. The sages wouldn’t say no to letting you help put away the darkness. If you can get the chest then I can grant you access to the temple.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Legend crossed his arms, “where is this chest?”

“Um…” she tilted her head again, “this might be an odd question, but are any of you good children?”

They all looked at each other uncertainly. What did that mean? They were all heroes, so they were arguably good, but most of them weren’t kids. 

“Depends who you ask,” Wild joked softly. 

“I am!” Wind raised his hand, “but he isn’t.”

He pointed to Legend. Legend rolled his eyes with a huff, trying to act nonchalant at the insult. 

“What exactly do you mean?” Hyrule asked for clarification. 

“It’s hard to explain,” she bit her lip, “I mean, I can’t explain, it’s just-ugh!”

She removed a glove that was on her hand and started to bite her nails. It seemed the pressure of being the first monarch of a new country led to unhealthy stress coping mechanisms. 

She looked them all over, her eyes glancing between Wind and Four. Hinging her bets, she pointed at both of them. 

“You two, what should I call you?”

“I’m the Hero of Winds, but you can call me Wind!” “Four.”

“Wind, Four,” she gestured to a door to the right of her, “can you follow me? I need to talk to you two alone.”

The two looked at each other before shrugging and following after her. That left seven heroes alone in a room to question what just happened. 

“I guess we aren’t good children?” Hyrule laughed to break the silence. 

“What was that all about?” Wild mumbled to himself before looking at his mentor, “Twi?”

Twilight’s face was scrunched, but not in confusion like the others. He was staring at the door that they left through, contemplating something. 

“Twi?” Wild placed a hand on his shoulder. 

He jumped, “cub, oh. I just…”

“Do you know what that was about?” Time asked him. 

“She was talking to a Minish,” he explained, “they’re invisible creatures that only g-oh, that’s why she asked if we were good children!”

Twilight told them all that only Four, Wind, and himself could see them. Four knew the most about them and could even speak their language, he was the one who let Wind and Twilight know why they, and only they in the group, could see, too. 

“The Minish like their privacy,” he finished, “she probably was looking for which of us knew of them so she didn’t have to reveal their existence.”

“Cats out of the bag, then,” Warriors snorted, “so she just guessed correctly with Wind and Four?”

Twilight shrugged, “usually children see them no problem, its rarer as you get older. Guess she figured Wind and Four had the best luck seeing them.”

Legend barked off a laugh, “does she think Four is ten? I mean, I know he’s short-“

His statement was cut as short as Four when the door reopened. Wind came running out, waving around a sword none of them recognized. Four followed quickly behind, looking distraught, and the Princess was last, clearly regretting giving Wind the sword. 

“Be careful!” Four hissed at Wind, “that’s an antiq-I mean, it’s valuable.”

“Guy, look at this cool sword the Princess gave me!” Wind swung the sword around some more. The others were able to see that the sword was a pristine white blade with a blue and green rounded hilt. 

“Please,” the Princess agreed with Four’s statement, “the Picori Blade will help you use the chest, combing the two will allow you to seal away anything!”

Wind nodded, “come on!”

Without another word, Wind zoomed away, running out of the room and out of the castle. 

“Wind, wait!” Four wasn’t letting that sword out of his sight. 

The rest looked at each other, unsure of what to say. They couldn’t wait long, less they lose their compatriots, so they bid goodbye to the Princess and headed after Wind. 

“I’m told them where the chest is hidden,” she called after, “be safe! May Hylia grant you courage!”

Onward, to the next adventure. 

-

Somewhere, across Hyrule, a sharp smile spread on a demonic face. It was finally time for its plans to start, for the game to begin, and the story to be told. 

The smiling figure did some last little details to its plan. It pulled out a pen and wrote some notes down. It called forth magic that would react to the presence of certain people. It then vanished in a puff of smoke. 

The trap was set, it just needed to wait for the prey to trip it.

**Author's Note:**

> Credits!
> 
> DM: Script-the-Skeleton  
> Wild: Beth/McTimeWithAutomail  
> Time: Lucy  
> Wind: Moonsamurai   
> Warriors: 46Ammy  
> Four: Galaxicon  
> Sky: Hiro  
> Twilight: Indigo-inkwell  
> Legend: Dawn   
> Hyrule: Anourth (Heroes of Men Arc), Spirit (Straits of Hyrule Arc+)
> 
> I will try to find who our original Wind was, but I have forgotten who that was. Will update with links to each player’s tumblrs or Ao3.


End file.
